Thursday, 20 April 2017

A bucket of popcorn and the latest Fast & Furious movie now share a similar notoriety. Both are superficial, temporary and at best, a passing joy. Fast & Furious 8 resembles a below par TV series. The only saving grace, since Fast & Furious 7 was so, so bad, that Fast & Furious 8 seems a relief in comparison. The formula is in place, one just goes through with it, with assembly line mechanics. Fast cars, hero-gone-rogue, somebody's baby boy, heartless villain, a couple of hot girls, pseudo machoism,repartee-filled dialogues, big-budget mega blasts and the main characters, barely getting scratched.... It is all a money-making, 'play it ultra safe' Hollywood territory. What a waste of an ensemble cast! For Vin Diesel is an underrated act, Charlize Theron is spot on. Dwayne Johnson is good as usual. Michelle Rodriguez seems jaded, while Kurt Russell is enjoying himself. Jason Statham and Tyrese Gibson (dumb but lively buffoonery) stand out. But there is not an inch of cohesion to hold their parts. Everything happens with epic predictability. You know nothing can beat Diesel and team (yawn). Certainly not nuclear submarines and definitely not anything remotely Russian!